The present invention relates in general to weaving equipment and, in particular, to a new and useful gripper loom having a pair of scissors positioned to operate in conjunction with a weaving reed to position and cut filling threads of a fabric being woven.
Gripper looms of the type mentioned are known, for instance, from German DE-OS No. 25 34 494. A disadvantage of this type of gripper loom is that the upper scissor blade is designed as a bracket overlapping the lower scissor blade with an interspace, wherein the filling threads clinging to the edge of the fabric have to be conducted through the opening between the blade elements. The filling thread which is to be newly introduced into the shed is presented by the filling thread feeding device to the gripper. Herein, the gripper pulls the filling thread still fastened to the fabric edge, over the lower scissor blade into a clamping member assigned to the scissor blade, whereupon, the scissors are actuated and the filling thread is severed so that the new filling thread can be pulled into the shed. The residual filling thread remains clamped in the clamping member in order to prevent entanglement with filling threads remaining at the fabric edge. Apart from the fact that a pair of scissors designed in this manner is relatively complicated, the filling thread introduced into the weaving shed must be conducted in between the two scissor blades when it is looped by the weaving reed, wherein there arises the danger that such a filling thread is clamped in the clamping member. Clamping of the newly, to be introduced, filling thread in the clamping member involves difficulties since relatively high forces are required for this purpose which impair the filling insertions in such a way that the filling thread is pulled with too great a tension.